1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention lies within the toy art. More particularly, it lies within the art wherein a movable toy is driven by aerodynamic means, such as the relative wind or passing breeze when a vehicle moves through the air.
2. The Prior Art
The prior art related to animated or moving toys, generally relies upon a mechanical drive that is either mechanically driven by springs or other means such as electrically. Such drives create animation or movement through various means. Furthermore, it is known that there are various animals that can provide certain animation or movement when they are caused to move through the wind.
Recently, it has been possible to implace such animated moving animals on vehicles to allow them to have the appearance of a live moving animal. However, to date there has not been any practical animal movement that can be merely aerodynamically driven to provide the effect of moving wings or a wagging tail to render the appearance of a moving animal.
This invention is directed toward the idea of providing animal movements that render the appearance of a moving pair of wings or a moving tail. Such movement is caused by means of having a wing being driven at a positive angular attack moved to an upper extreme position and then rotated by means of an operating arm to put it into a negative angle of attack, so that it will then be driven downwardly by the relative wind. At the end of the travel of the wing, or its bottoming out, it is attendantly turned upwardly again by the operating arm so as to rotate it into a positive angle of attack and drive it upwardly. The foregoing creates a constant flapping appearance and movement of the wing for the extended period of time in which the wing moves through the wind in an aerodynamic manner.
Attendant with the foregoing is an alternative embodiment of this invention which allows a tail or other appendage to move backwardly and forwardly by virtue of being tossed into positive angles at the end of its cycle of movement. This is done by way of angling the connection means into a positive angle of attack, so that it will move dynamically backwardly and forwardly in the manner of a wagging tail.
The foregoing features allow this invention to be a substantial step over the prior art by allowing aerodynamic forces to drive the wings or appendages of an animal backwardly and forwardly to give them the appearance of movement.